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pissoir

American

[pee-swar] / piˈswar /

noun

French.

plural

pissoirs

a street urinal for public use, especially one enclosed by a low wall, screen, or the like.

pissoir British

/ piswar, ˈpiːswɑː /

noun

a public urinal, usu. enclosed by a wall or screen

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of pissoir

French, from pisser to urinate

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

So, in praise of the public pissoir, here are some of London's toilet-based tales you didn't know you'd been waiting for.

From BBC • Jan. 16, 2022

Its title, America, is another Duchamp echo: “What has America given if not its plumbing?” asked the Frenchman who, coming from the land of the pissoir, clearly found US hygiene obsessions absurd.

From The Guardian • Sep. 16, 2019

To call a pissoir Fountain was to urinate on high culture – and that could not be a neutral gesture in 1917.

From The Guardian • Oct. 8, 2018

In the French revue, "La Plume de Ma Tante," a sketch took place in a "pissoir," a word Shawn refused to allow Tynan to use in the magazine.

From Newsweek • Feb. 20, 2015

Outside was a pissoir and stacked crates of empties.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023